Wilting Lavender
by The 2nd Avatar
Summary: Armin Arlert had been waiting for an opportunity like this his entire life. And now, his dreams are finally coming true in the form of Annie Leonhardt, the super soldier he bio-engineers.
1. Prologue: Lily-of-the-Valley

Prologue: Lily-of-the-Valley

New beginnings

Everything was dark when he arrived. When the light was flicked on, walking into the room with the glare bouncing off linoleum floors was near blinding. Computers lined both walls ready to be booted up for another day of work, and the air was a bit stagnant. There was a new workstation at the far end of everything, obviously just installed yesterday for his own personal use since there were no telltale signs of long nights marring the surface of the desk with coffee stains.

Taking a seat, the spinning chair dipped under his weight, slender fingers caressing the side of the computer almost lovingly before pressing the power button. The whirr of machinery broke the silence, and the monitor lit up as bright as the sun, a message waiting on the screen. **_-Welcome to the Titan project, good to have you on board!-_** This must have been Hange's work. They were enthusiastic enough, and sociable enough, to leave a friendly message on his computer screen the first day on the job.

It had the desired effect, and as he positioned a camera at his face to begin recording his first log - expected to be done by the time everyone arrived - he was smiling. "Scientist Armin Arlert, new recruit to the Titan project. Day one, the time is 5:45 in the morning. I was instructed to relay what my first day has in store for me, and Hange encouraged me to talk about how I feel about it too."

"I'm a little nervous. I'll be splicing volunteer one, and volunteer two's genetic codes together, and placing the results in an incubator. Hopefully if everything goes right, Erwin and Levi will be the proud new fathers of a baby girl." he gave a nervous laugh, almost immediately regretting saying that last bit out loud. "Of course they'll have no real connection to her, they're just genetic donors of course! Besides, she'll be aging so rapidly, they won't even have time to raise her!"

Armin ran a hand down his face, grimacing in embarrassment. It wasn't very kind, but he hoped others had made as much of fool of themselves as he was now. It was a rare opportunity to work on a project like this, and he didn't want to ruin it by having a horrible first log! "S-subjects name will be Annie Leonhardt, half sister to Mikasa Ackerman through Levi, and Reiner Braun through Erwin."

"It is unknown whether or not this specific combination of DNA will be stable, that's why I choose to make a female. The double X-Chromosome should offer a better chance at survival. Hange personally approved my reasoning's, and showed support of them." He swallowed, lips pursing nervously. Armin had never done something like this before, and he wasn't really given a guideline on what to say.

"S-subjects rate of growth is estimated to be one year per month until eighteen, at which time, we will slow it down to normal. She will remain in stasis through this entire time, basic skills such as speaking, and writing will be programmed into her brain while this is happening. We have high hopes for Annie since Mikasa and Reiner are our top successes." He smiled at that. Usually something like meshing Levi and Erwin's DNA together would be dealt with by Hange themself, but they believed he wouldn't mess it up. He wouldn't allow himself to be a nuisance, he would make Hange proud, and wouldn't fail in this!


	2. Chapter 2: Dafodil

Chapter One: Daffodil

March birth flower, new beginnings

Things were progressing perfectly. Armin had personally supervised the formation of Annie's embryo, and everything had gone without a hitch. Even when it had been too soon to tell, Hange said the odds of her being a success was already a hair above the rest. His excitement had been embarrassing. Luckily the only other person that had been in the same room when this happened was often described as being an eccentric.

It became very clear that this kind of attitude was to be expected every day. Not that he minded, in fact Armin loved it. There was so much passion, the only exception being in the form of Levi and Mikasa Ackerman. Though people, Petra to be exact, had explained they simply preferred to keep a level head. That was both understandable, and respectable. In fact, he even became fast friends with the oriental.

It had started off with the simple curiosity of meeting past, successful experiments, and had ended up blooming into something wonderful. Armin had met Eren first. He'd been cloned solely from Hange's genetics, though unfortunately didn't retain any of the exceptional intelligence that came from them. But he _did_ get a nice dosage of passion, and according Hange, all of the rage they'd had at that age.

Of course befriending Eren came as a package deal. When asked about why Mikasa was so drawn to the angry brunet, he'd been sat down because apparently the story was that... Abnormal. According to Erwin, the big boss of the entire operation, Eren had forced his own "birth". At the age of nine, through sheer force of will, he'd forced the incubator that his embryo had been placed in to empty. Luckily the necessary injection of antibodies, the entire reason for these experiments, had already been delivered.

One month later, to appease their adoptive son, Hange brought Eren to the place of his creation. Normally they would never form a bond like that with a test subject, but they knew enough about children to know Eren couldn't survive in that kind of environment without parental guidance. Besides, he was a rare success, bending of the rules could be over looked.

And they were. Exponentially. Normally, no one without a degree in bio-molecular-engineering would ever be allowed to get within a hundred feet of the labs. There were two exceptions, and until Eren there had only been one. The security guards. But even then, they weren't allowed anywhere except in the halls. But Hange believed Eren deserved the ultimate truth of just exactly -what- he was, even if at the tender age of nine there were things he wouldn't be able to understand.

Of course it was no accident that he'd been taken inside the laboratory the exact day Mikasa was to be given her own injection of antibodies. No one could've expected what happened next. Levi was so strong, and a double dosage of his DNA seemed like it'd be infallible. It even had the surprise effect of revealing the man had strong Asian heritage. It was something he never knew, being an orphan. But it meant nothing in the end.

Hange had taken their son outside for the first time that day to see the snow. He was still wrapped up in a jacket and scarf when his parent started explaining Eren's creation, and the reason he existed. No one was paying attention to Mikasa. They were all paying too much attention to their team leader, besides it was just so inconceivable to everyone that the antibodies wouldn't take, that they would attack the oriental instead of merge with her genes.

It was only because of Hange's unstoppable ramblings that the brunets eyes began to wander in boredom. When Armin asked him about it, he simply stated ignorance to what his parent was saying at all times, was for one moment, a blessing.

According to the reports Erwin received from the incident that took place that day, seemingly out of no where, Eren had dashed away from Hange's side, and smashed his fist through the glass of Mikasa's incubator. She had begun to spasm in agony, gaining consciousness and clawing at the sides of the tube shaped prison, dying while no one paid her any heed. None of the scientist understood what he was doing, they thought the explanation of what he was drove him to madness, and yanked him away from Mikasa, blood gushing down his arm, skin shredded.

He screamed at her then. "If you win, you live! If you die, you lose! If you don't fight, you can't win!" Some people swore they saw the two children's eyes meet for a fraction of a second before all hell was let loose. With one mighty kick from Mikasa herself, the incubator cracked open like an egg, releasing all the fluids that had kept her suspended. The rushing liquid knocked everyone nearby off their feet. Eren was the first one up and moving.

The young girl was sprawled out on the floor nude, since the test subjects can only be given clothes after being "born". Eren removed the respirator from Mikasa's mouth, the thing that allowed her to breathe while submerged in a water like substance, and placed it to the side. She had whispered to him, "I'm cold..." And without even a seconds hesitation, Eren removed the scarf wrapped around his neck, and tried to cover her with it.

"Have this. Now it's yours. Should be warm enough." According to Hange's reports, Eren had been blushing when saying that. Give the situation it was certainly possible, but it could have also just been the imagination of a parent. He'd taken Mikasa's elbow then, tugging on it to get her to stand. "Let's get you dressed quick. Come on." It was only after that did the scientists finally rush to the girls aid. Eren didn't leave her side the entire time they were doing tests, and trying to get her situated. He even managed to make Hange convince Levi take on a fatherly role towards her.

Ever since then the two had been inseparable. And even though Eren would complain sometimes, he never did anything about it. His main focus was on proving that though Mikasa might be physically better than him, he could stand up to her shadow. It was a hard goal considering she was the only failed experiment that had ever survived, while three other successful Titans had been engineered.

Indeed Armin wouldn't have been able to listen to that entire thing standing. It was just... Just so amazing! Not to mention those two were just so capable, it made him feel a little inferior. Especially when Hange had put him in charge of monitoring Eren's vitals to train for when Annie would be released. He was so busy making sure everything went smoothly in the control room, and with his friends, that he'd only seen her once or twice in total. Other scientist were doing the same thing, but still managed to take weekly visits to the incubation lab. Even with assurances that everyone started out a bit slow, Armin felt a bit... Burdensome.

It didn't help that everyone was so friendly. The only real exception to this was Ymir. She was sour, cynical, but somehow still managed to befriend the nicest medic in the entire Titan program. Seeing Krista without the freckled woman was like rain in the desert. It happened... But rarely. Not that Armin minded, the small blonde was beyond beautiful, but they were mistaken for siblings, and each other, too many times for him to even entertain the idea of being with her romantically. Plus having Ymir disembowel him didn't sound pleasant either. It was best to just avoid them altogether. Luckily the other medic Mina was excellent in her own right, and they enjoyed each other's company.

Choosing to have her do all of Eren's check ups before starting any experiments turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Reiner was taken to Krista, and it never ended well. Most of the time the blond brute ended up with a black eye by the time everything was over. He should have known better than to openly flirt with Krista while Ymir was there. Honestly, what did he expect to happen? Sometimes Armin couldn't help but think he did it on purpose, how else was it possible that he -constantly- forgot to keep a mindful tongue when going to the the medical exams?

He couldn't be too upset over Reiner's constant forgetfulness though, after all he would often visit Annie in Armin's stead. They had gone together on Armin's second trip incubation lab. Reiner had asked to go along with him, and with the story of Eren and Mikasa fresh in his mind, he couldn't help but to after to escort the other there. "So that's my sister, huh?" Reiner had asked with a crooked, wistful, grin.

"U-uh, yeah. I suppose technically she is." He'd responded, watching curiously as Reiner stepped forward, and placed a palm against the side of Annie's incubation tank. The touch was gentle, almost as if he believed she'd be able to feel it. When asked why, he simply shook his head with a chuckle, patting Armin's shoulder.

"Someone like you wouldn't understand." Were the only things he said on the matter before requesting they go get lunch. After that he frequently visited Annie, speaking to her through the program the scientists used to transfer information directly to the brain. He'd asked Armin's permission of course, and the blond figured only good could from their semi interactions. And he was right. The activity in her brain was more stimulated than ever!

Even though Armin didn't visit Annie nearly enough, after receiving that data, whenever he went to check up on Annie, from then on out he made sure to say hello. It wasn't anything special, but if he was to be her keeper until she could undergo the mission, there was no reason not to program in that small bit of familiarity. He hypothesized that this would keep her from having a disconnect from the scientists like Bertholdt. Though that might have just been his personality.

Months passed this way. Reiner continued to visit Annie more frequently than Armin ever did, and he continued to grow closer to Eren and Mikasa. At one point they even defended him from a few of the guards who'd attacked him, thinking there was no way he was an actual scientist. He'd tried to convince them with words, but… that had only made him angrier. Eren said they were always causing trouble for everyone, but Jean Kirschstein, head of the guards, refused to do anything about them.

Though he wouldn't say it out loud, Armin had a feeling that was just because of the feud those two shared, otherwise he wouldn't allow for people like that to serve under him. It was understandable in it's own right. People did stupid things when they didn't like something, and neither of them were the smartest of people. But they had good heart, they just didn't see eye to eye and their passions raged against each other. They might have been friends if their ideals were shared.

Unfortunately they weren't, and it forced Armin into a simple acquaintance type of relationship with Jean. A sad outcome, but one he could live with. After all, he'd joined the Titan program to be part of something great, to make a difference in the world, and restore humanity to it's former glory. Making friends like Eren and Mikasa were just an incredibly amazing benefit… And in some ways a curse. As time progressed the friendship the three of them shared was getting closer and closer. To the point they'd protect each other until the bitter end.

It was like they'd been friends their entire lives. And as time flew by, Armin couldn't help but hope the same could be said for him and Annie. It wasn't too much to hope for. After all, he was close to Reiner, and had a respectable relationship with Erwin. Levi was… Levi, but he'd expressed his belief in Armin's capabilities as a scientist, so that was something. He had high hopes for Annie, and the data proved it was justified… perhaps he shouldn't think of forming a friendship like that.

But it was what it was, and everything had been leading up to it. In just one week, he'd meet his destiny, and her name was Annie.


End file.
